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Final Fantasy V Walkthrough

Written by  Djibriel
Contributor

3.4: The Pyramid of Moore; the Earth Tablet

Enemies: Objet d'Art, Black Warlock, Bandercoeurl, Lamia Queen, Rajiformes, Ushabti, Archeosaur, Zephyrus, Mummy, Aspis, Mecha Head, The Damned, Grand Mummy, Sekhmet, Steel Fist, Gargoyle, Melusine

Treasures: 8000 Gil, 9000 Gil, 10000 Gil, 12000 Gil, ArmorCrystal Armor, ShieldIce Shield, AccessoryCursed Ring, ShieldFlame Shield, ArmorWhite Robe, Dark Matter x6, Elixir x4, AxeGaia Hammer, Cottage, ArmorBlack Robe, ArmorBlack Garb, HelmetGold Hairpin, HelmetRibbon, AccessoryProtect Ring

Blue Magic: O1000 Needles, OOff-Guard, ODark Spark, OLevel 3 Flare, OAqua Breath, OAeroga, OMissile, OFlame Thrower, O????, ODoom

"One rests alongside spirits of the past, blessed by soil..."

As you approach the Pyramid of Moore, the door remains closed. You were warned that the slabs were protected by gargoyles, and sure enough they're here. They seem largely inanimate though. Let this be a lesson to you! Spinster's tales! Balderdash! Humbug! An undigested bit of beef, a blot of mustard, a crumb of cheese, a fragment of an underdone potato! Also, as you examine the door, the Gargoyles attack you.

Gargoyle
Gargoyle
Bestiary #288
Type
Level
HP
MP
Gil
EXP
Speed
Humanoid
33
5000
300
0
0
34
Strength
Attack Mult.
Magic Atk.
Evasion
Defense
Mag. Def.
Mag. Evade
58
9
50
10
13
12
50
Stolen Items
Dropped Items
Common: Potion
Rare: Phoenix Down
Common: Hi-Potion
Command Immunities
Elemental Immunities
Catch, Control
None
Elemental Absorb
Elemental Weakness
Holy
None
Blue Magic
Status Immunities
MiniToadConfuse
 
Strategy
 
Prepare to defend against mostly physical attacks, and remember that if you kill only one of them, the other will try to resurrect the first with its next turn. OBerserk can stop this resurrection from starting, and following it up with OFlash will help keep you from taking too great a pounding. There's only 10000 HP total to knock off, so this shouldn't be too difficult, even with three in the party.
 



These Gargoyles are a nuisance, but nothing too difficult. The big thing you need to remember is that if one has fallen and the other is yet to act, the first thing it'll do is revive the other one. So, you can either kill them both simultaneously or completely screw with their AI script. In the meantime you'll be pelted by physical attacks like it's nobody's business.

This is an easy battle, so I won't insult your intelligence by talking too long about the Gargoyles. Throw up Golem to stop the physical attacks. The OTransfusion move can only appear with one 33% chance every fifth round, so you should just end the battle before they can use it. OFlash can stop their physical onslaught. If you're not sure you can take them out with multi-target attacks, you could set OBerserk on one and kill the other; this will prevent them from reviving each other, see. OSleep is a great way of stopping their meddlesome attempts at killing you.

Like I said, either use multi-target attacks or use OBerserk. Titan's Gaia's Wrath (whose is it anyway?) is grand, as are multi-target elemental spells from the !Black selection. Boost to your heart's content if you opt for this route, and keep your single-target attacks in check. OLevel 3 Flare works like a charm. Expect a heavier pounding if you utilize OBerserk (you may even want to scoff at the White magic skillset and use a StaffPower Staff instead), but with OFlash and Golem, there's still no need to worry at all. Cheap? Sure, but you're the Light Warriors on a mission to save the world. It's the end that matters, so don't complain to me about the means.

When the guardian gargoyles have fallen and a page from the Sealed Tome has been spent, we may enter into that most ancient of places, the Pyramid of Moore. This is quite a long dungeon, so bring plenty of items. The HelmetGold Hairpin for a Mage is a good idea; his or her MP will be in serious peril of reaching 0 otherwise.

Notice: after this dungeon and some other thing, your party will be once again filled to the maximum of four. Some players like to keep their levels about equal, or would rather clear the upcoming dungeon with four characters rather than three. It is perfectly doable to flee from every battle in the pyramid, avoid all chests (or at least those with guardians), fill your team back up to four characters and return here. You'll be forced to face a few Aspis snakes and I don't know it it's even possible to avoid all Mecha Heads (though you can do with fighting only one) and there's the Mummy x3 formation that you'll be forced to take on, but that's it! A Thief with !Flee will come first every battle, allowing you to get out of there before the enemy even knows what happened.

I'll give a quick yet comprehensive lecture on the opponents here. Since this is a pyramid, it's very old. All monsters therefore are either Undead or non-living to begin with; all other residents have long-since passed away (with the exception of one unique inhabitant, the mystic Sekhmet). The abundant Undead Lamia Queens are perhaps the most interesting as they occasionally drop HelmetLamia's Tiaras, headgear you haven't seen since the Ronka Ruins. They can use O1000 Needles randomly every second turn, so make sure to learn it if your Blue Mages still haven't. In addition, you can steal rare HelmetThornlets from them. They are quite useless, but rare all the same. The Undead Rajiformes has little to offer except for needless violence and a weakness to Lightning-elemental attacks, and the living Ushabti constructs can use both ODark Spark and OOff-Guard, though you'll have to feed them an Ether before they can actually use it.

The most interesting encounter you can have is one with a Zephyrus, a small fairy that summons other creatures to fight for her. These creatures can be any of Adamantite Golem, Bio Soldier, Ziggurat Gigas or Tunneller, but a single Zephyrus can only summon two out of those four (this depends on the possible monster formations for a given floor). They are all different monsters than the ones you fought earlier. The only interesting difference besides improved toughness is the fact that the Tunneller as summoned by Zephyrus may randomly use OLevel 3 Flare. Whenever a Zephyrus has a monster fighting for her, she will try her best to buff the creature with recovery and other helpful magic. Zephyrus are remarkably sturdy given their frail build and tend to evade a lot of your blows, but OStop and Paralyze can cripple her quickly. Note that none of the four creatures she may conjure add to your Bestiary.

The Requiem Song is a must-have for the Pyramid of Moore, as all Lamia Queens, Rajiformes and all The Damned, Aspis and Archeosaur monsters will suffer greatly from its effects. Back !Sing up with high Magic Power. A second caster is nice to have in order to deal multi-target Lightning-elemental damage to the Ushabti enemies, but a Lightning Scroll will deal sufficient damage to one-shot them all every encounter. SwordBrave Blade wielders and KnifeChicken Knife users, when powered up, will deal great amounts of damage. The Pyramid of Moore can be a repetitive dungeon, but it's not a hard one when you keep an eye out for your HP.

When you enter the Pyramid, there are two paths open to you to the left. You'll want to take the left-most one first. Go up to find spikes popping up from the floor. These damage tiles deal 1/24 maximum HP damage to your party and add the Poison status, even to those wearing the ArmorBone Mail! The Float status and the Light Step ability circumvent this, but there's no real need to resort to these tactics. There are three buttons on the wall; pressing the left-most one and the right-most one once will create a path for you through the spikes.

Your path will now be blocked by a sand stream. You have no choice but to cross its path and be swept away. Below lies a chest guarded by four The Damned enemies.

These opponents are durable and powerful, but they do nothing but physical Attacks, which is a blessing. They're Undead like so many creatures in this place, so Requiem hurts them a lot, (outright killing them tends to as well). They can teach you the Blue OOff-Guard and ODoom spells: use !Control, feed the slave an Ether and let it cast the spell you want. You'll get another ShieldIce Shield for your troubles. Across your path slither two Aspis snakes.

Go up and follow the path. You'll walk past the sand stream, now safely on the other side. On the 2nd Floor, there are a few hidden passages your Thief can spot. Two Aspis snakes are released here. When you leave this place, you'll find an upright sarcophagus. When you stand in front of it, it will open and the Grand Mummy will walk out.

The Grand Mummy has 6000 HP and uses physical attacks and Dancehall Daze, an attack that sets Sleep. He's weak to Fire-elemental attacks and isn't Heavy, so he's really not that much of a pain to take down. A single boosted OFiraga spell does the trick, and a Two-Handed SwordFlametongue Knight deals a lot of damage as well (about the same as a Two-Handed SwordBrave Blade Knight). You can easily keep the thing at bay in the meantime with !Flirt, though the implications of that act may be a tad too grotesque for your taste.

When you're done, you can grab a AccessoryCursed Ring from a chest within the sarcophagus. Its defensive properties are awesome, but it gives the wearer a Countdown in battle. For random encounters, this shouldn't be a problem, and equipping the AccessoryCursed Ring is actually a fairly good idea at this point if you ask me. If you carry around any Bards or Dancers, frail as they are, a AccessoryCursed Ring can really help them out here. For longer battles though, the status may pose a problem. Now, track back to the entrance. Now that you're here, there's always the option of quickly leaving for a Cottage and Save if you are so inclined.

Return and take the right path. Your path will be clear to you. You'll encounter two more Aspis snakes on the 2nd Floor. The second floor is, by the way, devoid of random encounters. On the 3rd Floor are three chests you can grab, all protected by monsters. The left one contains a ShieldFlame Shield and is guarded by The Damned x 4, the middle one contains a Dark Matter and is also guarded by The Damned x 4, and the right one contains a ArmorWhite Robe and is guarded by an Archeosaur (common) or an Archeosaur and two Ushabti (rare).

The Archeosaur has 9960 HP and can use physical attacks, !Claw (sets Poison), Poison Breath and Zombie Breath. The thing is Heavy, a Dragon and Undead, so... Boosted OFiraga spells, OFiraga spellblade effects and such are a good idea. You can Control the Archeosaur as well, which is a great idea. Archeosaur enemies don't use Zombie Breath until the fourth turn, but it's best to make sure you never see it at all. You can learn OLevel 3 Flare from him with the tested Control/OReflect combo one so often can apply to learn OLevel 3 Flare. The undead dragon will always drop a Dragon Fang post-scuffle, so that's a bonus.

The ArmorWhite Robe is awesome. It boosts Vitality and Magic Power by +3, increases defenses and adds 20% to Magic Block. Wear it, brothers and sisters. Note that Stamina increase on equipment really doesn't do much; it doesn't influence HP, though it does boost ORegen healing.

To the right, you can see a stairway turning light and turning dark again. When light, you'll slip off the stairs into the spikes, which, like the ones you saw earlier, deal damage and poison you. OFloat and Light Step allow you to circumvent the damage, but you'll slip off the stairway regardless.

On the 4th Floor, Mecha Heads roam the place rather than random encounters. I suggest you clear out the room first. There's a total of 6 Mecha Heads (and two Aspis that are released in the meantime).

Mecha Heads are machines that employ the standard machine attacks (Flame Thrower and OMissile) in addition to Wave Cannon, Mustard Bomb and Reverse Polarity. When any of your characters use !Jump, the Mecha Head will force that character to land with Interceptor Rocket. No special effects occur when you do manage to land with Jump, so why Mecha Head takes special precaution against one of the weaker attacks you can use at this point is beyond me.

Lacking a Heavy nature and being weak to Lightning-elemental attacks opens up the possibility to take down Mecha Head with Thundaga spellblade effects. Boosted OThundaga spells also get the job done. Have a character Control the Mecha Head, set up Thundaga spellblade when he's not looking and strike from behind (have the Mecha Head use O???? on himself). Failsafe strategy! Without Control, you'll just have to absorb a few attacks; Stop works, so OStop and Romeo's Ballad both help out. OThundaga cast by a Black Mage or by someone else will just be devastating by itself, so you don't need to prepare if you don't want to.

Anyway, when all is clear, go to the far left. Push a button to remove the spikes leading up to the chest and release two Aspis. Kill them and open the chest, which is guarded by an Archeosaur. It contains a ArmorBlack Robe, which is pretty much the best Robe in the Pre-GBA games. It's like the ArmorWhite Robe, only doesn't invest in the useless Stamina department and boosts Magic Power by a higher margin.

There are two sarcophagi in the room. The two chests around the right sarcophagus contain Elixirs. Opening the right sarcophagus releases a Mummy. You can fight it if you want. They're easy as long as you attack them simultaneously; when alone, a Mummy may use Danse Macabre, which sets Zombie to a single character (which just plain sucks). Past the fight lies a chest with a HelmetThornlet, giving you the third and last piece of "evil" equipment. The HelmetThornlet grants the best Defense of the game and it gives an immunity to Sleep, though it gives the wearer an inherent Sap status. The thing's a bad idea. The other sarcophagus takes you further in, past another Mummy x3 formation. There's a Save Point here.

On the 5th floor doth Sekhmet appear, one of the Brothers (though Sekhmet, the Egyptian Goddess he's named for was, you know, a goddess). He's a formidable warrior, and once you defeat him he won't appear again. The trick here, however, is not defeating him until you really want to. He has a rare AccessoryThief's Gloves steal, and by running away after you get it you can obtain as many as you like. You'll need to use OReturn as he also has a common steal (Hi-Potion). Obviously, running is not an option for you if you went with the SwordBrave Blade, but sucks to be you then. Naw, just kidding: the Catch ability works on him, and when caught he won't set the bit. In other words, Steal until you get the AccessoryThief's Gloves (use OReturn), then reduce him to 3000 HP or lower and Catch him. Get rid of Sekhmet on another random encounter, as his !Release its Strong Fight and it's capable of killing himself in a single blow.

Sekhmet is quite the brawler in the meantime, so don't underestimate him. Darkness and OConfuse are two handy status ailments to set on him, and he can be Paralyzed or Stopped (the former can be set with the WhipBeast Killer whip too, as he's got a Magic Beast nature). At level 41, a combo of ODark Spark and OLevel 5 Death will net you victory as well.

"You may have defeated me, but my brother in the tower will - gahhh!"

For fun, Catch Sekhmet and !Release him later against his brother!

There are three paths you can take here. Go up to find two chests. The left one contains a Dark Matter guarded by The Damned x4. The right one contains a ArmorCrystal Armor guarded by Objet d'Art x5. Go back. There's a hidden passage here that you can spot with Find Passages. You'll want to equip it temporarily to see where you're going. There's only one chest you can reach this way, and it contains a ArmorBlack Garb, an improved armor for your Clothes character(s). The chest is guarded by either Bandercoeurl and Black Warlock, or Steel Fist x3.

You'll want to fight the latter, as even if you still really want a StaffJudgement Staff, you can get one later. The Steel Fists are powerful physical warriors who counter every Attack command with !Air Fist, which sets Old and Sap. When a Steel Fist is alone, it will display the message "Focusing energy..." and use the powerful Strong Fight on the following turn, which will kill a character. If you're really lucky, you get to take some AccessoryKaiser Knuckles with you after the fight, which boosts Barehanded attacks. They have no status immunities, so setting Toad, Petrify or Death will take care of them easily enough. Their Magic Evasion is very high, however, so use !Spellblade or !Mix potions. They cannot avoid Aerial attacks, so Whips and Bows will always strike true.

Barehanded punches are normally based off your Level and Battle Power. However, with AccessoryKaiser Knuckles the Battle Power is inherently boosted by 50, making Barehanded punches nice enough again. In addition, they boost Strength by 5 and give more Defense than other Accessories (except for the AccessoryGenji Gloves and AccessoryCursed Ring). This is a really great time for a Monk; OBerserk really boosts the damage as well.

Now, climb the stairway you have yet to explore.

Multiple sand streams appear on the 6th Floor, but there are buttons within reach to stop them. Without a running sand stream, however, you can't enter the hole which leads you to some treasure chests. The first sand stream takes you to a chest with a Dark Matter guarded by The Damned x4. Get the chest and head back. The second button stops the second sand stream, which would have taken you back to the ArmorBlack Garb chest you picked up earlier. Next to the second button is a door. Enter the door to find two buttons. The right one is the wrong one (oh, irony!); it makes the wall throw you in the pit, onto the first sand stream and further down. The left one causes the wall to retreat, making way for four chests. The two to the right contain 8000 and 9000 Gil; the two left ones contain Dark Matters. Both are guarded by The Damned x4. Anyway, the third sand stream gives you nothing, so simply stop it and traverse it.

The 7th Floor contains more treasure, though you'll have to work for it. Pass up on the stairway and enter the left door. With Find Passages, you'll discover a long hidden passage which takes you to a total of three chests: a AxeGaia Hammer (guarded by The Damned x4), 10000 Gil and a Cottage. Now, get up the stairway.

The tiles on the 8th floor switch around. Stand a while to observe which tiles are 'safe' (which never disappear). If you drop down, you'll be able to open a chest containing an Elixir. You'll want to fall at least once for the treasure. The three chests in the room contain a HelmetGold Hairpin, a HelmetRibbon and AccessoryProtect Ring. Furthermore, you'll want to traverse the tiles to the right first. You'll be able to open two chests here: Dark Matter (The Damned) and 12000 Gil. Return to the main room and exit on the left side. The two chests here contain an Elixir and a last Dark Matter guarded by The Damned x4.

On the stairway to the door in the middle, the light tiles slide you down. Take care. On the 8th Floor, you'll able to finally obtain one of the four tablets. You'll taken to the top of the Pyramid, where the Dragon King Bahamut will rise beneath the peninsula where you left the airship to warp to Galuf's world. Bahamut is the most powerful summon spell in the game; sadly, it appears you'll still have to seek him out before you'll be able to call him forth in battle. The airship also floats in your direction. Good news all around!

....surprised there's no boss, aren't you? Heh.

You'll want to get to the airship, so head east. Walk through the patch of forest to engage in a cutscene. Lenna has escaped the Void, which is awesome news, but the effects of her time there are less then positive and things turn for the worse very quickly. While you are incapacitated by your friend's powers, Exdeath commands the Void to consume the Library of the Ancients, its scholars and Ghido. After Exdeath has returned to the Interdimensional Rift to continue its work on mastering the Void, Hiryu dives down in a kamikaze attack to rescue Lenna from the demon that's possessing her. Success.

Melusine is one of the Eleven of the Rift, Exdeath's elite force of unstoppable demons. Each a soul filled with malice, they were recruited with the promise of a world ruled by demons. Locked away for a 1000 years, their madness, rage and power are overflowing. Eleven Satanic rules of the Earth, Eleven the fool's amount, Eleven the first of the Master numbers...

Melusine
Melusine
Bestiary #287
Type
Level
HP
MP
Gil
EXP
Speed
None
29
20000
500
0
0
50
Strength
Attack Mult.
Magic Atk.
Evasion
Defense
Mag. Def.
Mag. Evade
49
15
5
10
90
0
5
Stolen Items
Dropped Items
Command Immunities
Elemental Immunities
Catch, Control
PoisonHolyEarthWindWater
Elemental Absorb
Elemental Weakness
IceLightning
Fire
Blue Magic
Status Immunities
None
PoisonMiniToadPetrifyDeathBerserkOld
 
Strategy
 
She starts the battle weak to fire, so if you can hit her heavily with fire-based attacks immediately, you can knock off a great deal of HP before she executes her first Barrier Change and her weakness becomes random. After that, you'll need to either figure out the weakness and hit it before she changes again, or use barrier-piercing attacks throughout. As usual, Golem and Carbuncle are huge boons.
 



Melusine's "thing" is her Barrier Change attack, which calls into existence another form of herself. HP is transferred, but statuses aren't. Elemental properties are swapped around, and there's no set pattern as Melusine will call forth a random other Melusine. Her AI script isn't that difficult; she will simply randomly use physical attacks, use level 5 !Black spells or switch to another form.

Melusine has incredible amounts of Defense in all but one of her forms. Her Magic Defense is normally 0, but since she nullifies all elements and she swaps around her reaction to Fire, Ice and Lightning it's difficult to take advantage of that. When her Defense is turned down to 0, her Magic Defense soars to 90, so her 'weakness' becomes physical in that state; in addition to having 0 Defense, so will also become unable to avoid Aerial attacks such as Whips and Bows.

Her first form is weak to Fire-elemental attacks, so if you know what you're doing you can kill her before she even moves to another form. Two-Handed SwordFlametongue Knights are grand; when hitting a weakness, all attacks become barrier-piercing, remember? Boosted OFiraga spells also deal incredible amounts of damage, especially when bounced off three characters unto Melusine. With the SwordBrave Blade or the KnifeChicken Knife, you can set Firaga spellblade effects and watch the damage fly to sickening heights. You can always check Melusine's form with OLibra, !Scan or !Analyze. If you detect no elemental weaknesses, this means that Melusine will have 0 Defense, meaning physical attacks are once again a very good option.

The battle is easy if you have what it takes. A combination of Golem and Carbuncle completely shuts down Melusine's offenses, as does all-round application of the Dragon Shield (mix Ether + Dragon Fang) combined with Golem. If you focused on physical characters, this is an incredibly nasty battle as you can hardly touch Melusine. The AxePoison Axe cuts through her Defenses nicely; the AxeGaia Hammer you're now bound to have is more powerful, but the Earthquake attack will be a wasted turn. Non-elemental magical attacks are quite rare, but O1000 Needles and OComet are safe (if relatively weak) bets at all times.

Lenna joined the party...

Use a Cottage to bring back Lenna. In the meantime, while you're traveling to the Sealed Castle of Kuza, Exdeath uses the Void it controls more and more to erase the town of Walse and Castle Walse, the town of Istory, the Moogle Village, and Bartz' hometown, Lix. Bartz throws a hissy fit. Jeesh, he's not thrilled about all the side-quests or anything.

Caves of Narshe: Final Fantasy V
Version 6
©1997–2024 Josh Alvies (Rangers51)

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